Battle of Benevento

Battle of Benevento

Battle of Benevento, from Giovanni Villani's Nuova Cronica
Date26 February 1266
Location
River Calore, near Benevento, present-day Italy
41°08′03″N 14°46′24″E / 41.13417°N 14.77333°E / 41.13417; 14.77333
Result Decisive Guelph victory
Belligerents

Guelphs

Ghibellines

Commanders and leaders

Charles of Anjou

Manfred of Sicily 

Strength

12,000 men[1]

  • 600 knights
  • 2,400 men-at-arms and mounted sergeants
  • 600 crossbowmen
  • 8,400 infantry

13,500–14,000 men

  • 1,200 German mercenary knights and men-at-arms
  • 1,000–1,400 Italo-Norman knights and men-at-arms
  • 1,000 Italian mercenary horsemen
  • 300–400 Saracen light cavalry
  • 10,000 Saracen archers
Casualties and losses
Unknown but comparatively light

Most of the army[2][3]

  • Only 600 of the 3,600 armored cavalrymen escaped death or capture
  • Annihilation of the Saracen corps

The Battle of Benevento was a major medieval battle fought on 26 February 1266, near Benevento in present-day Southern Italy, between the forces of Charles I of Anjou and those of King Manfred of Sicily. Manfred's defeat and death resulted in Charles' conquest of the Kingdom of Sicily, effectively ending the rule of the Hohenstaufen dynasty in the Italian Peninsula and marking the rise of the royal Capetian House of Anjou. The engagement was part of the conflict which pitted Guelphs against Ghibellines.

  1. ^ Esposito, Gabriele (2019). Armies of the Medieval Italian Wars 1125–1325. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 39. ISBN 9781472833426. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  2. ^ Oman, Charles (2012). A History of the Art of War: The Middle Ages from the Fourth to the Fourteenth Century. Tales End Press. p. 560. ISBN 978-1-62358-003-2.
  3. ^ Nolan, Cathal. "The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000–1650". www.goodreads.com. p. 759. Retrieved 31 July 2020.